PLANNING AND EVALUATION: ABSTRACT The Center's vision, set by Dr. Bepler, the Center Director, is ?to be a world leader in cancer care, research, and education through courage, commitment and compassion.? The Cancer Center Executive Committee (CCEC) leads the strategic planning activities responsible for meeting that vision. This committee, comprised of the Center Director, Deputy Center Director, Associate Center Directors, and Program Leaders, meets semi- monthly to execute the strategic planning process in support of the vision. The established process followed by the CCEC includes evaluating the Programs and Cores to ensure all activities are mission driven. Additional committees, internal to the Cancer Center ? appointed by the Center Director at the recommendation of the CCEC -- provide the communication feedback loops to guarantee critical issues are elevated to the CCEC for review. These internal committees stimulate scientific inquiry and refine the focus on the scientific direction of the Programs and Cores. Our External Advisory Board (EAB) provides objective evaluation and advice to the Center Director. Their recommendations suggest mid-course corrections to help strengthen our research. Our EAB members are experts in fields of scientific inquiry that complement our Center's focus. In addition to annual EAB meetings and regular internal planning and evaluation meetings, during the last review period, the Cancer Center held two full-day, off-campus scientific retreats to evaluate our scientific trajectory. The outcome of the first retreat, held February, 2012, was the re-organization of our scientific Programs and the identification of key scientific themes. The scientific Programs were chosen after careful consideration to our catchment area and the unique challenges posed by our market. Retreat attendees ultimately agreed on aggregating the key scientific themes into four Programs: Tumor Biology and Microenvironment, Molecular Imaging, Molecular Therapeutics, and Population Studies and Disparities Research. The second retreat, held May 5, 2014, identified strategic areas of focus for the coming five years. These areas of focus include: a) Comparative effectiveness research and health care economics; b) Immunotherapy; c) Tumor imaging and its integration into radiation treatment delivery with a focus on improving proton therapy; d) Hematologic malignancies; and e) Contribution of the microenvironment and tumor metabolism on metastasis formation. A broad representation of faculty attended both retreats which included senior leaders, senior and junior faculty, and faculty representatives from multiple School of Medicine departments. Planning and Evaluation activities are supported with institutional funds; no CCSG funds are requested.